Book signing by two authors set for June 4

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Country Cupboard will host a double book signing party featuring friends and authors Sally Freeman Jadlow and Margaret Humphrey from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 4, during the 30th annual Good Ol' Days street festival.

Jadlow, a former Fort Scott resident and 1960 graduate of Fort Scott High School who now lives in Overland Park, will sign copies of her latest book, "God's Little Miracle Book." Humphrey, a longtime Fort Scott resident, will be signing copies of her first book, "I Sure Can."

Jadlow's book, released late last year, contains stories of 27 events she describes as miracles that she has been involved in over the past 40 years. One story tells of an incident that involved one of her grandsons being struck by lightning and not injured; another recounts how another grandson was run over by a car at the age of 5 and was not hurt.

The last story in Jadlow's book is a recollection of an event in which she said God multiplied food for 180 people when a women's group she was involved with expected only 40 people.

Humphrey, also an FSHS graduate, said her work is a "short book she wrote for her grandchildren" about difficulties overcoming challenges but never giving up. She said the book's message also applies to adults.

"It's about trying, not having to be perfect but trying anyway," she said. "It's about motivation for children."

Humphrey is also an artist who has published Grandma Moses-type notecards based on her paintings that are done in a primitive style. The notecards depict life in her local childhood home, where she grew up with 10 brothers and sisters.

Recalling her childhood, Humphrey said she admires her mother for working hard to take care of her family and their home.

"My mother and her organization," she said. "We had three big meals a day, clothes were always washed, the house was always clean, the yard was always perfect. She was such a hardworking woman. I was just amazed by her."

Jadlow said she has been writing poetry for more than 30 years and began writing stories about 14 years ago after her daughter, Jennifer Karr, survived a serious illness.

"I started writing poetry after a spiritual renewal," she said. "I decided to write spiritual stories 14 years ago after my daughter had a spinal cord tumor and survived."

Karr, now 46, is a real estate agent living with her family in Paola.

Jadlow published an award-winning book of poetry with inspirational short stories in 2001. In 2006, she published a historical fiction work titled "The Late Sooner," based on the diary of her great-grandfather, who went into the Oklahoma territory during the first land run of Oklahoma in 1889.

She currently teaches memoir classes in Overland Park, but said "Fort Scott is still home."

Jadlow and Humphrey are also friends of Country Cupboard owner Judy Renard, who contacted the two women about the book signing.